Anthony Bologna was shot dead on Sunday, June 22, 2008 in San Francisco while returning home with his two sons, Michael and Matthew, from a barbecue in Fairfield. Michael was also shot dead, and Matthew was critically wounded. Courtesy of Department of Motor Vehicles

Photo: Dmv, Courtesy To The Chronicle

Anthony Bologna was shot dead on Sunday, June 22, 2008 in San...

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Michael Anthony Bologna was shot dead on Sunday, June 22, 2008 in San Francisco, Calif. while returning home with his father, Anthony, and brother, Matthew, from a barbecue in Fairfield. His father was also shot dead, and his brother was critically wounded. Courtesy of Department of Motor Vehicles

It was a minor traffic annoyance, something that happens every day, everywhere.

But in San Francisco on Sunday, it triggered an outburst of road rage that cost the lives of a father of four and his eldest son, and left his youngest son clinging to life. Police say it was a tragedy that defied explanation.

Tony Bologna, 49, and his sons headed home from an afternoon family barbecue in Fairfield a bit early Sunday so the father could get some sleep. Before midnight, he had to be at his job at a San Mateo grocery store, where he was the night-shift supervisor.

It was 3 p.m., and Bologna was nearly home when he was forced to stop, facing south, on narrow Congdon Street in the Excelsior district.

When he did that, he blocked the path of a car that was trying to turn north onto Congdon from Maynard Street, police said Monday. It was a gray-green or gray-blue Chrysler 300M with as many as three people inside.

The driver stared him down. Bologna soon put his Honda Civic into reverse to try to let the other car go by.

"The driver started giving Tony dirty looks, so Tony drove back," said Lt. Mike Stasko, who heads the police homicide detail and coached youth basketball with Bologna. "The man drove alongside him and started shooting.

"If Tony never backed up, they would still be nose to nose," Stasko said, drawing a map and showing how the two cars had been facing each other, each unable to pass. "He backed up to let the guy complete the turn. (The gunman) opened fire without saying anything."

Bologna was killed on the spot, as was his eldest son, 20-year-old Michael Bologna, who had been a star athlete at Lincoln High School in San Francisco and was attending the College of San Mateo, playing basketball and baseball.

Tony's youngest son, 16-year-old Matthew, was in the car's back seat and was shot several times. He was in critical but stable condition Monday at San Francisco General Hospital.

"There was no altercation," said Bologna's sister-in-law, Ninozka Baughman. "The guy who pulled up was making gestures. He was mean-mugging him."

The last thing Bologna would have done, relatives say, was return the intimidation. He was a devoted father who, in addition to Matthew and another teenage son, is survived by his wife and a daughter.

"My brother-in-law was 49 years old," Baughman said. "Tony was an adult. He was a dad. It was, 'Whatever.' He started driving back, and that was when the guy opened fire."

She said her brother-in-law was "an outstanding man of character and integrity" who loved his family. "God takes the best ones," she said.

The killers' car was last seen heading north on Congdon. Police have no good description of the people who were in it, but say a similar Chrysler 300 was seen at another shooting earlier in the day. They are investigating whether the same people were involved in shootings that killed Tony and Michael Bologna.

Tony Bologna was eager to get home because he had to be at work by 10 p.m. at Draeger's market in San Mateo. He had worked in grocery stores for 25 years and at Draeger's for more than a decade.

Keith Myers, the store's director, called Bologna "a great guy. He had a fantastic work ethic. He was a hard worker, and he cared about his job."

Bologna had been looking forward to a visit from family members from Australia he hadn't seen in years, Myers said. "They had planned to go, I think, to Disneyland," he said.

Sunday night, Bologna's family called him with the news.

"It's terrible. It's disgusting. It's unbelievable," Myers said.

For Stasko, the head of the police homicide detail, the killings were more than the 49th and 50th homicides in the city this year. He and Bologna coached youth baseball and basketball together for eight years at St. Philip the Apostle Catholic School, a K-8 school in Noe Valley.

"We had three (baseball) teams that made it to championship," he said. "We also had a championship basketball team."

Stasko's office on the fifth floor of the Hall of Justice is filled with team photos. Monday, he pointed to one of them, showing players flanked by Stasko and a smiling Bologna.

"There are 12 little guys - 12 sixth-graders who are without him," Stasko said, "and they are pretty upset. One of them is my son."